MicroSeismic to help operators meet British Columbia’s seismic regs

5/12/2014

MicroSeismic to help operators meet British Columbia’s seismic regs

HOUSTON -- In response to new British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission (BCOGC) regulations, MicroSeismic, Inc. has bolstered its passive seismic services portfolio to deliver best in class seismicity monitoring (SM), either as part of an existing BuriedArray system for hydraulic fracture monitoring (HFM), or as a standalone sparse array specifically designed for real-time event detection and SM applications.

BCOGC’s new guidelines require hydraulic fracturing operations in previously identified seismically active areas to be monitored for potential seismicity. Under the terms of this governance, an array must detect anything at or above magnitude 2, at 500 m resolution or better. MicroSeismic’s SM technology exceeds this threshold and is custom built to provide real-time analysis with early warning alerts that integrate with the client’s risk mitigation workflow.

Seismicity monitoring plays an important role in hydraulic fracturing as it allows the operator to establish a baseline for naturally occurring seismicity prior to startup.

Terry Jbeili, COO, MicroSeismic said, “MicroSeismic’s SM system is based on its BuriedArray service which has been deployed on projects spanning over 1,000 sq mi, under a variety of terrains worldwide. The reliability of these systems has been proven over the years and we are confident in our ability to surpass the metrics that BCOGC has put into place.”

MicroSeismic is monitoring for seismicity in the Montney shale, British Columbia, and has recently completed a seismicity monitoring project in Alberta, where no regulations exist, but where operators are proactively monitoring for seismicity.